


i've lost my light

by alex_archer



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Canon Divergent, F/M, timothy leaves helios before jack brands him and before lynchwood (bl2) occurs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:08:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22236859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alex_archer/pseuds/alex_archer
Summary: inspired by three year old hcs bc that's how i rOLL and it's spurned by listening to Tainted Love of all things lol"sometimes i feel i've got to run away i've got to get away from the pain that you drive into the heart of me"---nisha @pandoranmama and timothy @me
Relationships: Timothy Lawrence/Nisha
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	i've lost my light

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PandoranMama](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PandoranMama/gifts).



Timothy ran. He knew this moment was coming, he’d known for a while. Still, he’d hoped he wouldn’t have to do this. He had heard the doors lock, Jack’s override controls of his apartment coming into play once more. What Jack hadn’t planned on was Timothy stealing a weapon from the armory and shooting his way out of the apartment. He’d had a bag packed for weeks, after learning of the Immortality Project he’d expected the worst. What Jack actually had in mind, however, was much more terrible.

As such, Tim ran through the back routes of Helios. He had about a half hour walk, fifteen minutes if he ran, but he had to play it careful. He’d been happy, at first, hearing the doors lock. It meant his paranoia was right, but it also meant Jack really didn’t give a shit about anything. What happened to Jack, and the rest of them as well, on Elpis had take a toll on the President of Hyperion. It all had yet to sink into Timothy, the fact that this sociopath who kidnapped him from his prior identity now was the most powerful person in the galaxy, and he was also batshit crazy.

But now, as he ran for his life, Timothy remembered why he hated being a body double the entire time he was on Elpis; his whole life was Jack’s now. The Immortality Project meant Timothy would become Jack, once the _handsome_ bastard died, and Timothy would cease to be himself. At least, that was the happy outcome. If Jack overwrote his brain, via an ECHO port enhancement, and Timothy remained inside, well that would infinitely be worse. This first step, what Tim expected Jack was locking him in his room to initiate, would have been the first _very_ painful step to the plan.

For now, Tim was fleeing someone. Who Jack had gotten to chase him down Timothy feared to find out. Any misstep, any wrong passage, would have been the death of Tim. It’s a good thing Jack forced Timothy to learn Helios so well then, wasn’t it? Wasn’t it? Timothy didn’t have a chance to think about whether their shared intimate knowledge of Helios would be a feat _against_ him, not as a bullet flew so close to his head it grazed his ear. Timothy turned to see his pursuer, just in time to back out of the way of another shot which grazed just above his eyebrow. That’s gonna scar.

He barely saw them, before the assailant ducked behind cover. Whomever Jack got to bring him back was good, better than he was anyway. Even though he knew that wasn’t hard to accomplish. Still, whomever was on his tail… It forced him to pick up the pace. He found his way to the moonshot facility faster than he’d expected. This was both good and bad, it meant he had more time before Jack’s bots came, but it also meant he had to hurry his ass up or get shot.

Sliding through a duct, he found himself in the empty service facility. Jack had shown him this route during the DAHL takeover, and Timothy secretly thanked him as he worked. It was quick, but tedious. Of course Jack had revoked all his permissions, but Timothy was smarter than Jack gave him credit for. A simple hack drive, stolen from Jack, was enough to give him access and block the bastard out of the system long enough to get himself off Helios. That is, until he heard the guncocking a few feet away.

“Don’t call it, Handsome. Come with me and we’ll get this all sorted,” Timothy felt his blood boil as he turned to face his pursuer.

“Nish? No… Please… Not you,” he didn’t raise his weapon. He knew if she was here, he wouldn’t win.

“I-I’m sorry, Timothy. Jack wants you back, and I happened to be on the station,” He saw her, but focused on the barrel aimed for between his eyes. He knew if she shot it would be a sure thing. Still, he found his hands going for the keyboard. A single shot stopped him in motion, “Hey, kid… No. You know that’s not smart. Come with me, I’ll keep you safe.”

He felt his skin crawl, “Keep me safe? What? From Lynchwood? Keep me safe like when he beats me? Or has another beat me? Keep me safe like when his disgruntled business partners shoot me thinking I’m him? Keep me safe then? Nisha, he plans on branding me… The tattoo-” his hand drifted to touch the base of his ribcage, a reminder of the mark she’s well aware of, “-the barcode he’s already given me isn’t enough. He wants my face, again. He wants to burn me, drill the same hinges into my skull he had put into his. He wants me to wear his mask, _again._ I can’t, Nish… Let me go, let me live whatever half life I can on Pandora… Nisha, he’ll kill me-

“I know,” her confirmation stopped his heart, and he turned to face her as he raised his hands. If she killed him, he’d be assured knowing she knew he was defenseless. Then, maybe… She’d realize what she was doing.

“No, please… Nish. You don’t know. You _can’t_ know. He plans on-”

“I know, Handsome… I- He needs you,” her words stopped him, even more than his paused stature. He couldn’t bear the thought that she knew he’d be erased and still be Jack’s agent. He couldn’t believe everything between them could be erased by her loyalty to the psychopath. He thought he knew her better than this. The stutter, though. He hoped she might still be his. She might still love Timothy.

“Then kill me… He’s watching, we both know it’s true. He could have as many robots down here as he wanted, he knew my route… He wants _you_ to kill me, because he knows you know I won’t be taken alive. Nish, _please_ don’t make me have you kill me…” His whole body ached, as he reached over to the console slowly. He dared her to shoot, dared her to kill him knowing she’s doing it because Jack wants her to. Timothy knew Nisha well enough to know if he pointed out she isn’t in control, maybe she’d realize the job wasn’t right. That’s what separates Nisha from Jack. Sure, both were borderline sociopaths, but Timothy had seen Nisha had the potential to be more. Her past defined her, but she could rewrite that if given the chance. All it would take was putting the agency back in her hands.

The shake in her hands. That was enough to tell him his theory was correct, and he called the moonshot. It arrived, like the one they’d taken together to Elpis. Before he could get on, however, he had to be sure she wouldn’t shoot him.

“Nish… _My night,_ please. Let me go… Either let me go and stay, or come with me… You can still be who you want to be… I- I love you… If you love me, regardless of what you choose, let me go,” Timothy waited a second for his words to sink in, and then he walked. He crossed the distance between the platform and the moonshot, but it was enough for her to process what he’d said.

As he reached for the entry button, her shot rang through the cavern. It hit inches from his head. In the few seconds it took for him to board and close the door, he realized what had happened. As he watched the doors close, the view window came to rest in front of his gaze. He met her eyes, and he knew. Nisha never missed.

The moonshot launched, and he barely managed to strap himself in. The pod launched towards Pandora’s surface, towards his unsure future. In the few minutes it took to enter the planet’s atmosphere, Timothy realized Nisha had made a choice he’d never thought of. He knew she would face the consequences, but he realized, as always, Nisha had shown him things weren’t entirely binary. She’d also shown him, again, she loved him in her own way.

It was then, as the container hit Pandora’s surface and he went tumbling around, he realized she’d saved his life. It was up to him now, for the first time since his double transformation, to keep his own ass alive. He was terrified.

But as he crawled out of the moonshot, he looked to the sky and blew a kiss. She’d get it, whether she knew it or not, and he could rest assured knowing he’d do his damnedest to make it up to her, “I love you, Nish. May we meet again.”


End file.
